I've said it elsewhere and will say it again and again, in my personal opinion the Designjet 130 hasn't received the attention it deserves. I've had it over a year now, and it has put in a stellar performance. I've had two solo exhibitions with 24" x 28" prints, you can see some details on my website. Many oohs and aahs from visitors.
The only issue I've had was that the light magenta head had to be replaced sooner than expected, and the printer didn't realize there was something wrong with it, while it should. But on this printer heads are consumables just as ink cartridges, you swap them out yourself at very reasonable cost. HP Support Netherlands/Belgium was very patient, helpful and professional on this issue.
Ink consumption is extremely economic. Colours are outstanding and stable.
I have never needed to run a nozzle clean run in a whole year. Not once.
You don't need to buy the expensive optional roll feed holder. With some practice manual feeding is not a problem. I've built a media holder with parts from an IKEA towel rack at US$9,-. The optional roll cutter is a must in my set-up, it automatically cuts the paper from the roll when the print's done. I say it's a must because the leading edge must be cut very straight, otherwise the roll will be difficult to feed next time you want to make a print.
Contrary to what's been said elsewhere, I find the prints and the printer do not smell.
The prints are supposed to last 45 years unprotected or 82 years framed behind glass. But that's only with recommended swellable polymer media from HP. Remember it is a dye-based printer; the ink is encapsulated in the coating of these particular media, which ensures longevity. Apparently HP's philosophy is that it's easier to make dye-based ink more durable than it is to make pigmented inks look good. Printing on other media is possible, but I've not experimented with this, longevity on non-swellable polymer media is supposed to be much less. I happen to like HP Premium Plus Photo Satin very much, I feel no need for other media, but that's personal preference. Matte and glossy media are also available. Prints are not water resistant, but surprisingly, they can be cleaned with clean lighter fuel and a soft tissue, that won't affect the print.
The mechanical construction is OK, the design of the stack feed tray could be improved. Cooling is performed by an audible fan, it's OK but it's noisy enough for me to shut down the printer as soon as I'm done printing.
In summary, I totally agree it's a bargain and has many advantages over the competition, but also some disadvantages, and personal preference may be the most important deciding factor.
I'd buy it again right now. But in a few years there will come a time when it'll have to be replaced; by then I'd also be looking at the new kid on the block Canon in large format printers.
Gerard Kingma
www.kingma.nu
